NorthSideSox72

South Side Sox is in trouble for a bunch of reasons. Vox is one. Sox not doing well is another. But the biggest reason is the quality of the site went into the toilet when Jim left. Most of their content is just trash now. Their guy who writes on the minors steals content from FutureSox and others without credit too, just to make things more obnoxious (I can only assume the MLB content does this too, but I don't read it enough to say for sure). They are foundering because there is very little money in team-centric blogs, and to perform in that space you need to be at the top. The current SSS is just not there right now. I am sure Brett is doing the best he can. He's been recruiting away writers from other sites because they DO actually pay their writers, which I salute by the way. But he's doing that because he knows he's got to find something that will get the site back up to a higher level of quality.

The things you are discussing are not anywhere near the same. The question of an 18 year old having sex with a 15 year old is not even in the same area code as ANY age and a 6 year old. Not comparable at all. The law does not say that a 15-year-old has no judgment or expectations of reasonable behavior. If that was true, we wouldn't be able to try and convict them of crimes, which we do with regularity. You are somehow extending the idea that a 15yo (in some states) can't consent to sex to mean that they are incapable of ANY decisions, and that is not the way the law works at all.

He was 15. She was 6. SIX YEARS OLD. Unless this guy had a severe mental disability, he ABSOLUTELY knew how wrong it was at 15. At 15 he's taking driver's ed. This isn't an 8-year-old we're talking about here. Fuck him. He can toil in the Mexican League and then go into some other career. If the Sox sign him, no joke, this is one thing that WILL keep me away from ALL things Sox.

I think you're a little out of date here again. Getz has slowed things down quite noticeably. Since he's taken over I haven't felt like any prospect has been rushed, which is different than before when rushing was what they did. The only player in the Getz era where I felt he was moved up too quickly is this talk of Collins in AAA - I think he's not ready. But literally that's it, and even in that case there are plenty of people who think AAA makes sense.

I would agree that the 2005 team played unselfishly. I would not agree that Thome, or then later Dunn, being added had any negative effect on that whatsoever.

Agreed. And this is something people seemed to miss, probably based on assumptions around Thome's body build. Thome hustled more than most of the team, and there were a handful of players that were actually slower than him on the bases.

"Small Ball" was a small side show... 1. Starting pitching 2. Bullpen (significant gap) 3. Home runs 4. Timely hitting (call it "clutch" if you'd like) 5. Defense, up the middle and skill INF, where it matters most (significant gap) 6. Hustle, stolen bases, scrapping for runs and anything else related to "small ball" 7. Attitude That, to me, is the 2005 team.

Last I heard they want him 100% before assignment this year, but clearly the DH option exists and they could explore it. I haven't heard anything on the topic in recent weeks.

I would agree it's not as much content as one would like, at least not enough feature stuff. But they get deep info that is key, for me, for prospect hounds.

He is hitting, but the throwing part is just getting underway. It is possible they could assign him and DH him for the first month or two instead.

BA is a very good publication, and have subscriptions for good reason. They need to pay their writers. You should consider subscribing - it isn't much money and it is worth it if you are interested in the prospects.

My understanding is that Adolfo and Burger should both be assigned around May/June.

Man, some really odd takes in there indeed. Rivera at 16? I like the guy but, no. Burger at 23 is hilariously low. Henzman and Booker don't belong on a T30 or even all that close to it IMO. No Flores or Lambert are surprises. And I still think Stiever is consistently underrated - he's on no one's list other than FutureSox (and even there I think he's low at 28).

There are people calling Hansen a non-prospect? A guy who made T100 lists a year ago? With his filthy stuff? That's ridiculous. The command and injury risks came back BIG time last year for sure, and he's fallen back on the ladder, but he is absolutely still a significant prospect. You just don't give up on that level of talent, especially when he's shown before for a year and a half at a stretch that he can dial it back in. He's a prospect now and will be for at least another couple years even if he struggles.

That was my thought as well. Rotation has some interest too, but not as interesting as that infield. Bullpen doesn't look very good, though there should be 2-3 live arms worth tracking.

Is anyone actually defending him at this point? I honestly haven't seen it. I don't see how anyone could.

I asked Hahn about this topic specifically when I interviewed him. You can read it here.

As we approach the season, FutureSox is making one more call for local correspondents at the White Sox affiliates. In particular, we are seeking locals for the following areas: NC I-85 corridor (to cover Charlotte and/or Kannapolis primarily, possibly also Winston-Salem) Great Falls or elsewhere around the PIoneer League cities (mostly MT, ID) Phoenix area (for Spring Training, AZL, and fall leagues) We already have people lined up for Birmingham and Winston-Salem, and one for the AZL but not the shoulder season leagues (and more coverage there is better). We have a local media person for Great Falls too, but he is employed in media already so he is limited in what he can do for us there. Our hope is to have dedicated people for every team if possible. Here is what we are looking for: in-person coverage to include one or more of written stories, interviews, video, photography, podcast appearances. Once on-boarded and established to make sure the trust is there, we will credential these people as media at those affiliates. Currently our writers are ALL volunteer, however we are aiming at making these paid roles as the year goes on (no guarantee of that yet). What we certainly can offer today is a platform that reaches a pretty large audience, being part of a media site with a strong reputation and a wonderful team of contributors. This is a hobby for most folks, but if you are interested in a future career in the field, note that FutureSox writers have gone on to roles with two Major League teams, Baseball Prospectus, Hardball Times, NBC Sports, Boras Corp and more over the years. If you are interested, or even just know someone who is, send an email to futuresox at gmail with any related background in media or sports (or something related) and why they would be interested in, and effective at, a correspondent role with FutureSox.

Win on the road at Oklahoma Lose at HOME to TCU Win on the road at #18 Kansas State Lose at HOME to BAYLOR This team is driving me batty. And usually, any good ISU team is nearly unbeatable at Hilton.

I wish I had posted it here, but I was telling another fellow ISU alumnus during the week, put money on ISU to beat a ranked KSU team on the road. After that TCU mess. It was just so predictable. Sure enough, boom. I guess they are still in the thick of it for the conference title with 6 to play. Along with 5 other teams.

Collins K-rates in 2017-2018: 27.4% in 2017, 29.8% in 2018 Zavala K-rates in 2017-2018: 23.9% in 2017, 25.9% in 2018 And Zavala had a wrist injury in 2018. 25% isn't a good number, but it's not worrisome in today's environment, where as pushing 30 is getting into that worrying territory. They are not dramatically different, but the difference is significant. I'm not personally a believer in BABIP at the minor league level given the defense, fields, etc. I just don't see it as an evaluative tool. And if you think his averages are inflated by BABIP, he's been in the pros now for 3.5 season (maybe more like 3 with a little missed time) and kept doing it, hitting .270 for his career. That's enough time for BABIP to even out quite a bit at any level. I have substantially more concern about Collins' hit tool than Zavala's, at least in terms of basic bat-to-ball. But Collins has more raw power and will obviously walk a lot more often too (though I think the walk rates will deteriorate some as he moves up if he doesn't start hitting more pitches).

I have a very hard time believing that a THIRD of them changed residency. I am sure some did, but that number just seems unbelievable to me.

This is key to what I was saying earlier. Even in NYC, you aren't hiring that many people right away, or even in a year. And any of the cities I listed have at least a handful of schools nearby with IT and/or business related disciplines, but more importantly, recent college grads move to new cities for THESE types of jobs all the time. You will have to import a lot of people, and have to spread the hiring over multiple years, no matter what.

I'm not sure Collins actually is a "much" better hitter. I agree his offensive ceiling, given his 60 or 65 power (Zavala being more like 55) and elite eye (Zavala's walk rates and K-rates are middle-of-the road), is definitely higher. But he's got substantial problems with the hit tool, and IMO a pretty low floor as a hitter. His swing has been under regular changes and sometimes has a problematic hitch, and he's not putting the ball in play enough yet to portend a good future in the majors. He needs more cooking.

That's the downside (though I wasn't really meaning those specific cities beyond just being examples). But I also think, you can't practically put in that many people right away anyway, even in NYC. And people will move to some cities for good jobs (some cities more than others). I think Amazon ends up being forced to grow organically over time whether they want to or not, which takes away some of the advantage of a deeper pool in cities like New York. I just think, if I'm NYC or Chicago, having HQ2 is overall a good thing, but not enough that I would throw absurd benefits at it. Paraoxically I'd be more willing to throw more at it if I were a smaller, but still decent-sized (million-ish people) city.